National Eating Disorders Collaboration

The National Eating Disorders Collaboration brings together eating disorder stakeholders and experts in mental health, public health, health promotion, education, and research, as well as the media to help develop a nationally consistent approach to the prevention and management of eating disorders.

Page last updated: 01 September 2010

Page last reviewed: 21 August 2014

This initiative will contribute to providing information and evidence which will help to ensure that young people with eating disorders are able to access evidence-based, consistent information through schools, the media, health services and other appropriate avenues.

Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions involving intense anxiety and preoccupation with body weight and shape, eating and weight control. One in 100 adolescent girls develops anorexia nervosa, and five in 100 develop bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness, with approximately 15-20 per cent dying within 20 years.

The collaboration will take a long term approach to the promotion, prevention and early intervention for eating disorders to improve the health outcomes of persons with or at risk of an eating disorder. It will:

provide or facilitate access to helpful, evidence based information to young people and their families on the prevention and management of eating disorders and healthy eating

identify further work that needs to be undertaken to ensure a consistent evidence based national approach to eating disorders

develop and assist in implementing a comprehensive national strategy to communicate appropriate evidence based messages to schools, the media and health service providers.

More information on the collaboration can be found on the NEDC website.